Against All Odds
by st.jimmy.987
Summary: A sort of prequel to 'Shadowed Hearts'. Matt's thoughts of a Wammy-based artist he knew and loved.


It felt way too early to be up, Matt mused as Mello shook him awake. As he sat up, rubbing his eyes, he noted the time---6:58 am.

It was way too early to be up. Shaking his head, Matt stretched and reached over his make-shift bed, grabbing his goggles and pulling them over his eyes as Mello flicked the lights on.

"You ready?" Matt looked at him and, with a half-smile, nodded. Mello sighed and looked out the window. "You remember what you gotta do?"

"Distraction." Matt said easily, picking a striped long sleeve off the floor (which, odd enough, brought back memories of an orphanage and a certain artist with blue eyes) and pulling it on. "Smoke screen for you to kidnap her, and then make sure the bodyguards follow me."

"Right." Mello looked at him as he stood up, grabbing his vest and zipping it up to the collar. "Where's your gun gonna be? You have to---"

"Have it in reach, I know, Mels!" Matt interrupted. "Look, it'll be here." Matt demonstrated by turning around. "They'll want me to put my hands behind my head, right? So my gun'll be here, in easy reach." Matt turned to face Mello. "It'll go fine. Don't worry so much." Mello was quiet.

"I got a bad feeling about this." He said softly. Then he turned to Matt. "Let's get your car."

ML

Matt tapped the dashboard of the rental car, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He had told Mello that in no circumstances would he ever use his red Acura for anything as violent as this. He came up with a couple good arguments, too---the shade of red was too dark, it wouldn't go fast enough to give the bodyguards a proper chase.

He had other plans for that Acura, anyway. Plans that weren't just for him. He smiled softly as he fingered the black box in his pocket before pulling it out. 'One more look.' He told himself, opening it. 'For good luck, though nothing could possibly go wrong---we've planned this for months.'

The ring sat inside, glinting even in the dark. Matt took a deep breath, laughing at the irony. In about an hour, he was about to kidnap Takada Kiyomi-san, who everyone called 'the face of Kira' (more or less---that's what she was, anyway), and he was fine.

When he saw her again, a few days later, he would propose. And that made him nervous as heck.

But he could picture everything---himself, sitting in the living room of a small home, and her, in the middle of the room. Staring out the window, a paint brush in her ear like always. He could even picture, maybe, a couple of genius-children running around. Maybe some from Wammy's, with no parents and no real goals, except to surpass or become a man they'll never meet. Maybe some of their own, with messy red hair and bright blue eyes.

At any rate, he could see it all. He gave a moment to her, closing his eyes and allowing himself to remember everything---the first time they kissed (he was twelve, and she had just turned eleven a few weeks before. It was Christmas at Wammy's, and they had gotten stuck under some randomly placed mistletoe), first time he saw her again (seventeen, and he was conning smokes out of the cashier. She had stared at him before shouting his name and throwing her arms around his neck).

His pocket vibrated, pulling him back to the present.

'She's here.'

Matt pulled out the smoke gun, cocking it. Placing the ring in his pocket, he reached to the back and pulled his gun from the seat, placing it passenger side. He turned the rental on. His phone vibrated again.

'Now.'

Without thinking about anything else, Matt drove the rental casually a block or two, lit up a cigarette, then rolled down the window and shot into a crowd of people.

The reaction was instant, and Matt stayed long enough for the bodyguards to see the car and get a quick look at him before he floored it, rolling up the window.

'This has got to work.' He thought, tearing across corners and running through red lights. 'No way this can fail.' He checked his rear view mirror and saw at least two black cars behind him. He smirked. 'Yea, haha!'

One thing he remembered learning at Wammy's was multi-tasking. He had to, in order to play video games non-stop and maintain his number three position. So as he drove recklessly through the streets, he thought of her.

She was probably in her top-level office at Hanazaki's, painting or on the phone. Maybe, Matt thought, she was thinkng of him as much as he had been thinking of her the past few days.

He remembered the last time they met. Sneaking past the recptionists, running up the stairs to her floor. They had gone for a movie and dinner. He couldn't remember much of the date, but he could remember her face, soft and beautiful and so uniquely hers. When he left the next morning, as she slept soundly, he wrote a note saying that he'd meet her again later and not to worry about him.

He had signed it 'I love you, Matt.' It was his common way of signing the notes he left her, even though Mello used to make fun of him for it, had been since he confessed to her at fourteen (just the year before they left. He had pulled her out of bed and dragged her outside. She was confused, but Matt couldn't take his eyes off her sleepy moon-lit face. Before he knew it, he blurted it out, 'I love you', just like that. She had smiled, lighting up her face---)

Cars blocked the road in front of him, at least ten or eleven in a cemi-circle. Matt turned the rental sharply, stopping the car. Behind him, the two cars chasing him joined the circle.

He growled in annoyance.

"Those guys have been waiting for me." He muttered. "How many guards does Takada have?"

They got out, at least two to a car, and they all pulled out guns. Matt sighed---they obviously weren't going to make this easy. He opened the car door after reaching back and placing the gun behind his head, shoving it down far enough it wouldn't be seen.

Placing his hands up to show he wasn't armed, Matt got out of the car.

"Hey! Hey!" He yelled. "Since when are the Japanese allowed such nice firearms, huh?" He smirked confidently. "Besides, you'd want to know where my accomplice has taken Takada, right?" His hands went down slowly---Matt could feel the gun pressing through his gloved fingertips. "You can't possibly fire at---"

The loud sounds of rounds being discharged was the only warning he had before he felt the most excruciating pain he'd ever felt. Bullets wracked his body---his arms, his chest, his legs. He could hear where the bullets that missed him went---the rental was taking some serious damage. How bad, he could only guess. They stopped shooting at the same time and Matt could feel how bad the pain was---one bullet had even grazed his temple, making blood drip down his face and through his goggle strap. He stood for a few seconds before taking a small step back, falling. His back hit the rental, hard, and he almost groaned in pain. The cigarett fell out of his mouth and onto his vest.

One of the guards said something, but he couldn't make out what. Something else was said, yelled from a block down, but he didn't pay much attention to that, either. All he heard was them getting in their cars and leaving, one at a time.

Not even two minutes after the last one left, another black car drove up. Matt could feel his eyes slip shut, his thoughts on her.

"Matt must keep his eyes open." A blank voice said. Matt looked up through half-lidded eyes.

"Near..." He whispered inaudibly. Near looked away to say something, but Matt blinked and didn't hear anything.

"Matt!" It was sharp enough to bring him back and he opened his eyes halfway again.

"Give..." He gasped in pain. "My...my poc-pocket..." He coughed up blood. "L-Lin-Linda. Give...it to...her..." He struggled to stay awake as he felt Near rummage through his pockets and pull out the black velvet box that miraculously remained unharmed. Near nodded and turned away. Matt grabbed his arm desperately. "Don't...don't t-tell her..." He whispered, losing his voice.

'I love you, Linda.'

That last thing raced through his mind as his world went black.

* * *

Request from Fanfiction Fanatiction, here ya go!! XD i hope you like it.

In case of any confusion, let's say Near wanted more toys. XD


End file.
